


cigarette filled lungs and caramel recovery

by Anonymous



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Flustered Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Jealous GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Love Triangles, M/M, Protective Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Resurfaced feelings, Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, Summer Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Unrequited Love, dream’s ac actually works in this, drista pog, george is back uh oh, they’re on summer break
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28470624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: dream has seen the long and short of it all. from rooftop talks with techno to discord calls with george, he’s been having it pretty gooduntil george’s family decides to move back to america.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 97
Kudos: 434
Collections: Anonymous





	1. day 1: caramel/cigarette

may fucking sucks. it’s a week before break and, not only that, it’s extremely hot. _especially_ in california. he looks over to technoblade who’s casually leaning against the rails that restrict the rooftop. _his birthday is next month_ he reminds himself. 

“what are you thinking about nerd?” the older asks, a smirk tying at his lips. “how much school sucks.” the green eyed blonde replies with a huff. “we’ll be out of here in a week you big baby, it’ll be fine.” techno chuckles. the sound rings in dream’s ears. it’s nice to hear him genuinely happy. dream smiles. 

“wanna head back to my place?” techno asks. dream stands up from his place on the floor and dusts himself off, “of course.” 

“techno’s boyfriend is back!” tommy shouts. dream and techno entered the house mere minutes before tommy decided to alert philza and wilbur of their arrival. “again?” wilbur walks out from his room to join them in the living room. technoblade covers his face in his hands and groans. dream laughs and waves at his brothers. 

“welcome back big man.” tommy says, sitting upright on the couch. dream shakes his hand, “nice to see you too tommy.” wilbur snickers. techno attempts to smack his older brother, but he misses. “philza’s in his room if you want to talk to him.” wilbur shrugs. “legends say that he hasn’t been out in days.” tommy jokes. “he only comes out when dream’s here,” techno groans. “it’s embarrassing.” 

“i’m sure that’s exactly why he comes out of his room.” wilbur chuckles, placing his book down on the coffee table. tommy laughs alongside him, ganging up on techno. speaking of which, the man himself walks out of his room and into the living room, once he hears the sound of wilbur and tommy’s laughter. 

“dream’s here?” he asks. techno nods in response to his father’s question. dream waves at him, “hello philza.” phil smiles and waves back. “what brings you here today?” he sits down on a single couch to the side. “techno invited me.” dream shrugs. tommy suffices a snicker. 

techno eyes tommy which shuts the younger up. philza nods, ignoring the clear tension between his sons. “are you okay? are you sure nothing is happening at home?” phil continues on. dream shakes his head, “no sir. everything’s fine.” “okay good.” philza looks at dream. he analyzes him, looking for anything that tells him that he’s lying. he’s relieved when he concludes there’s no evidence of a lie. 

“are ya done interrogating him yet?” techno asks, deadpan. “yep. if you need anything, you know where i am.” philza gets up from the couch and walks back to his room. 

“he’s so mysterious and shit. it’s kinda annoying.” tommy shudders. “you can say that again.” wilbur pushes up his glasses when he feels them slipping off. techno turns to dream. “i’m sorry he does that every time you’re here. i get that it’s uncomfortable.” the taller sighs. “it’s fine. he’s just checking in on me. it’s nice to have another source of reassurance anyways.” dream chuckles. the sound warms techno’s heart, and his walls break down a bit. 

the two teens run off to techno’s room. wilbur jokes about how excited they seem making techno chuck a pen at him from the top of the steps. tommy is confused, but wilbur doesn’t elaborate on the joke. 

“my family is a fucking mess, i’m sorry.” techno plops down on his computer chair. “it’s okay, really, i’m used to it. i’ve been over so much that it’s normal, don’t worry tech.” dream sits down on his bed. “i don’t know if i trust that, dream.” he leans back in his chair. “oh come on now. you know i would never lie to you.” dream smiles. it’s genuine. it’s private and personal. it’s just for him. he smiles back. 

eventually, it gets closer to nightfall. philza calls down the boys for dinner before techno has to drive dream back home. 

“are you sure you want to go home at this time dream? it’s pretty late. you can always stay over.” philza successfully hides his smirk as he asks this. “i would stay the night, but i promised george that i’d call him today.” dream stands by the door waiting for techno to drive him home. 

tommy groans, “why are you always ditching us for george?” dream chuckles. “he’s my old friend tommy, i haven’t seen him in a while.” “yeah but you talk to him every single day!” “i’ll stay the night sometime this week, i promise.” tommy points at him, “i’m holding you to that big man.” techno sighs, grabbing his car keys and heading out the door with dream trailing behind. 

“it seems like tommy has been really attached to you recently. what’d you do for him?” techno sits in the driver's seat and starts up the car’s engine. “from what i remember, nothing really. i’ve just been over at your house almost every day if that’s what you mean.” dream smiles. he rests his head on the palm of his hand as he stares out the window at the dark blue sky. 

techno looks over at him. the way he looks so relaxed and careless warms his heart. he can’t help but smile at the thought as he turns away. 

“we’re here smiley.” techno stops the car outside his house. “thanks tech.” dream smiles and waves him goodbye as he steps out of the car. he closes the car door and walks up to the front door only to have drista open it before he can twist the doorknob. she looks behind him and sees technoblade’s car drive off. she smirks, looking like she attained the information she needed, and runs back to her room. dream sighs and closes the front door before running off to his room as well. 

he sits down on his chair and turns on his computer. he rushes to launch discord and click on george’s user. he presses the phone icon by his name and listens to it ring. george picks up a little bit afterwards. 

“sorry for being late, i was at techno’s house for a bit.” dream sinks down in his chair. “it’s fine dream. i just finished up something too.” his voice slips from dream’s headphones to his ears. he swears it gets smoother and sweeter each time they call. the sound makes him melt completely. 

fuck. he thought that he got over these feelings a long time ago. george left and went back to england without saying goodbye. he clearly doesn’t feel the same and yet dream still keeps running after him. he hates it. he should, no, _needs_ to stop. he can’t keep expecting george to come back and sweep him off his feet again. 

“hey, uh, can i talk to you about something?” george asks. the question brings dream back from his trance. he immediately sits up, “sure what is it?” george sighs before speaking again. “well, my family is thinking about coming back to america.” he leaves the statement hanging in the air. it lingers for a little too long before dream clears his throat to respond. 

“wh-really? you’re not messing with me? you guys are seriously coming back?” dream attempts to shield the excitement in his voice. he can feel the hope rising in his chest again. he shouldn’t be this excited about george coming back. the feeling of hope withers away. “they said that they’re thinking about it, but it’ll most likely be a yes.” dream can almost feel george’s smile as he speaks. maybe he’s just as happy as dream is to come back. 

“so...can i expect you to be back home if you do come back?” dream asks. “of course! where else would i be?” george chuckles. dream swears that george is doing it on purpose. he swears that george knows that he’s not over him, and that he’s doing it for the hell of it. to see dream’s reactions. but that’s not true. george wouldn’t do that because he doesn’t even know what he’s doing and it’s _torturing_ him. 

he knows that he won’t even last a _second_ after seeing george on campus again. 


	2. day 2: caramel/cigarette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> george realizes that jealousy is a bigger problem than it seems

dream tosses a dark green shirt on and runs out the door. techno sits in the driver’s seat waiting for him to get in the car. he spots the blonde running out the door and shutting it before rushing towards his car. he sits in the passenger’s seat and closes the car door as techno starts the engine. 

“did george say anything yesterday?” techno asks.

“in fact, yes he did.” dream takes a break from looking out the window and faces him. 

“well, what’d he say.” techno can see dream look at him from the corner of his eye and tries to focus on the road. 

“he said that he might be coming back to america.” dream smiles remembering what george had told him the night before.

“really? that’s great!” techno’s happy that dream has a chance of seeing george again. at least that’s what he tells himself to get the feeling of uneasiness to wash away. 

“yeah.” dream falters a bit. 

“what’s wrong? i thought you’d be happy that george is coming back.” 

“i am. i’m just not ready to face him again. it’s been 5 years and i mean, yeah we call every day, but seeing him in person and hearing his voice are two different things.” the green eyed boy sighs.

“i think it’ll be fine. what’s the worst that could happen?” techno shrugs. 

“george? how the fuck did you get here so quick?” dream’s hand flies over his mouth. 

“language.” bad buts in. george chuckles, “surprise.” dream’s anxiety skyrockets. george wasn’t supposed to be here. he said his family was still thinking about it. 

“you said that they were thinking about it.” dream’s eyes are still widened in shock. 

“well, that may have been a lie, but i just wanted to surprise you that’s all.” george smiles. “shit george.” dream laughs and runs to hug the british boy. 

bad eyes technoblade. he notices a gleam in the eyes of the stoic pink haired boy. it’s a gleam of want. bad takes note of it, and looks away before techno can make eye contact with him. 

“i wasn’t invited to the reunion? big sad.” sapnap pretends to pout as he walks over to the group. 

“sippy cup! to be fair, you knew about this before dream did.” george lets go of the embrace and faces sapnap.

“but  _ still _ . you guys could’ve invited me.” the youngest of the three crosses his arms, keeping his upset act up. george and sapnap bicker a bit more. dream takes this time to catch up with techno. 

“hey.” the shorter greets. techno almost jumps at his voice.

“jesus christ dream.” the taller sighs. dream lets out a giggle. a smile makes its way to techno’s lips as he watches the blonde laugh at his reaction.

“you were standing here all stoic like you normally do when you’re in an awkward situation, so i came over to talk to you. make this a little less awkward for you y‘know?” dream shrugs. 

techno is  _ whipped _ . of course dream noticed him being physically uncomfortable and decided to talk to him in order to calm him down. the sheer audacity this man has. 

“uh, yeah, thanks dream.” techno clears his throat. dream nods. 

“it’s nothing really. don’t worry about it techy.” dream smirks when he sees techno’s cheeks dust with the same color as his hair. 

“techy? what kind of pet name is that?” he playfully elbows dream in hopes to distract himself from the heat he feels on his face. 

dream wheezes.

the sound is enough to alert george who whips his head around to try and find dream. the younger is leaning against techno and laughing with him. george gets a bitter taste in his mouth while looking at them. sapnap seems to notice. 

“calm down george, don’t pull out the nine.” sapnap puts his hands up when george narrows his eyes at him. the british brunette sighs. 

“sorry sapnap.” he avoids looking back at dream and techno.

“it’s alright man. just...try not to make your jealousy  _ that _ noticeable.” sapnap puts his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans. 

“i’m not jealous.” george snaps. “is it so wrong of me to want to talk to my old friend without his new friend constantly taking his attention?” george is careful about the volume of his voice. it’s not loud, but it’s enough to get straight to the point. george realizes the meaning of the words that have fallen from his mouth. his eyes widen as a result. 

he looks up at sapnap who simply nods in an effort to show that he understands. george looks back at dream, who’s getting lost in conversation with technoblade. the feeling of bitterness rises on his tongue again. 

“shit.” he mumbles. 

“i’ll just call you dreamy boy then.” techno smirks. dream’s face heats up after hearing those words. 

“screw you!” dream tries his damn best to hit the taller male. he chuckles as the blonde grumbles to himself. 

“i can if you want me to~” he lifts dream’s head up by his chin. as if dream’s face wasn’t already red enough. 

“you’re such an idiot.” dream laughs nervously. 

george tugs on dream’s wrist, pulling him away from the embrace. 

“hey george!” dream smiles. god that smile makes it hard for george to be mad at him. 

“can i borrow him now techno?” george asks, his voice almost turning into a growl. techno notices the tone in his voice and he narrows his eyes. 

“cockblocked.” sapnap snickers from afar. bad smacks the back of his head. 

“ow! bad what the hell?” he rubs the part of his head where bad hit it. 

“language.” bad sighs. 


	3. day 2.1: caramel/cigarette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> techno has a plan to spend more time with dream while george and dream revisit an old memory

george already doesn’t like technoblade. there’s nothing wrong with him, it’s just that george doesn’t like when people take what’s his.

technoblade already doesn’t like george. there’s nothing wrong with him, from what techno can tell. it’s just that you should  _ never _ challenge him over something he wants. 

_ “can i borrow him now techno?” _

those words replay in his head. he doesn’t want to be the bad guy and say no, dream has been wanting to talk to him again for 5 years. despite the idea not sitting too well with him, he lets out a muttered “fine.”

“thank you.”

george gives him a shit-eating grin before taking dream and walking him away from techno. the pinkette’s eyes still narrow in their direction. 

badboyhalo has always been a mediator. he’s always taking control of the arguments that sapnap and george get into, and has been a natural ever since. he doesn’t think he can solve their argument directly, so doing it day by day should work for the time being. 

he walks up to technoblade, with sapnap trailing behind. 

“jealousy is hard to deal with, i know.” bad says, startling the taller a bit. 

“is it really  _ that  _ noticeable?” techno huffs. 

both bad and sapnap nod in response, at least he’s self aware. techno sighs. 

“gods well what do i do now?” he fiddles with the hem of his thin jacket. 

“quackity’s hosting a party this friday that you can take him to. it’s to celebrate the end of the school year.” sapnap smirks. 

a party? really?

“i don’t do parties frat boy.” techno crosses his arms. “or the drinking part.”

“hey, i never said anything about drinking. i’m sure dream doesn’t drink either.” sapnap comments. he looks over at bad for some backup. 

“he doesn’t drink at parties, techno. i’m the designated driver, and he always helps me with george and sapnap after they get completely wasted. anything he says to you that night will be completely honest.” bad makes sure to give him a reassuring smile. 

it seems to work, as techno stands there silently pondering his options. he mutters a swear to himself, in hopes that bad won’t yell “language” at him. 

“i guess i’ll go then.” 

bad keeps the smile on his face and sapnap cheers. bad is almost a hundred percent certain that a small smile crept onto techno’s face as well. 

**———————**

“we’re seriously ditching school again?” dream chuckles. 

“yes dream, if it wasn’t obvious enough. i just want to make my first day back as extreme as possible.” george smiles. 

dream hates george’s smile. he hates it when his mouth quirks upwards in content after he says something funny. it makes it harder to get over him. 

“can you hold my hand? i don’t want to get lost.” george winks. yep, dream’s face is  _ definitely  _ red now. he pushes george away. 

“i hate it when you do that.” he grumbles. he takes george’s hand in his anyways. dream swears that the smile on george’s face could light up a room. 

“where to now?” george asks. dream swings their hands back and forth as they walk through town. 

“let’s go to that cafe you like.” dream suggests. 

“you mean the one  _ you _ like?” george snickers. 

“hey, their drinks are really good okay.” dream retorts lightheartedly. 

“sure. i don’t mind that.” george replies. 

dream’s grip on his hand tightens just a little bit. his heart tightens in this chest as well. 


	4. day 2.2: cigarette

the two teenagers make their way inside the cafe at the plaza, by the school. george asks dream where he wants to sit, knowing that he’d want to sit by the window to see the view. the older of the two chuckles at the other’s childish nature. 

“what’s wrong with sitting by the window?” dream asks, tilting his head to the side to give extra effect. 

“you’re so predictable yet childish dreamy.” george boops dream on the nose. dream’s whole face goes red before he quickly covers it up with his hands. george lets out a breathy laugh at his reaction. 

a woman with long curly white hair walks up to their table. 

“welcome back boys! i see that george is in town again.” she smiles when she notices the brunette sitting across from dream. 

dream removes his hands from his face and looks up at the lady. 

“oh, hey puffy! george just moved back today.” he elaborates. 

puffy’s smile grows into a smirk once the statement is made, “really?” dream nods. “well then, welcome back george!” 

“thank you puffy.” george smiles.

she never fails to make him smile. if he’s being honest, he misses this place. he misses being here with bad, dream, and sapnap. he really wishes that he didn’t leave.

“will it be the usual?” she asks george. the british teen perks up. 

“you still remember it?” 

“of course i do! you never bothered to try anything else.” she shrugs. 

“but it’s been 5 years.”

“some people just don’t change in 5 years.” she comments. “so are you implying you’ll have what you always get?” she asks once more. 

geroge nods. 

“i never really liked change anyways.” he mumbles. 

“what about you dream?” she turns to look at the boy in green. 

“i’ll get what i usually get too so george won’t feel too bad about not getting anything else.” dream replies. 

“aww! thank you dweam.” george coos. puffy holds back a snicker while writing down dream’s order. 

“shut up gogy.” he retorts. george chuckles at the younger’s response. 

puffy knows about how dream feels. probably more than george does, in fact. the older british boy doesn’t seem aware of the meaning behind dream’s flustered and defensive nature. dream doesn’t seem to notice the true meaning behind george’s flirtatious teases and remarks. she doesn’t stand around to listen to them hate flirt any more than they already have. 

“gods it feels good to be back here. i’m finally back to the place that gave me comfort, and i honestly just missed it here.” george admits. he looks out of the window and watches a few cars pass by the cafe. 

dream takes this moment to observe george again. the way the sunlight carefully grazes his skin and highlights his jawline and caramel brown eyes is enough to make dream’s breath hitch. 

“you okay dream? you’ve gone quiet.” george notes, looking away from the window. brown eyes interlock with green ones. 

“uh, yeah, e-everything’s fine.” dream manages to stutter out. his heart is racing just as fast as his mind is. 

“you sure? it seems like you’re thinking about a lot.” george doesn’t want dream to hide anything from him anymore. every time they called, it was always about george. this time, he wants the conversation to be about dream. 

“do you want to talk about it?” the brunette asks. 

dream’s heart rate slows a bit after george’s thoughtful words are uttered. his mind stops racing, and he’s finally able to pick a thought he wants to talk about. 

“i probably should.” dream sighs. 

“then talk. i won’t stop you. we have the whole day.” george gives him a warm, reassuring smile. dream can’t keep anything from george with that smile on his face. he takes a deep breath before letting out his baggage. 

the dam broke. as soon as he opened his mouth, a whole river of repressed thoughts and emotions flooded out. it turns out that he had a lot more to talk about than he originally thought. if george was annoyed with how long he was going on for, he didn’t show it. the older sat there with contentment written on his face, nodding every time dream needed reassurance that he was still paying attention. 

puffy had given them their drinks some time ago. it’d been about almost four hours since they got there, but neither of them complained. 

“i think that’s all i have to say. i think that’s everything on my mind at the moment.” dream lies right through his teeth. obviously he can’t tell george about how he feels about him, though he did give his two cents about george leaving. 

george simply hums in response. dream checks the time on his phone before looking back up at george. 

“we should probably go. techno is probably waiting to drive me home.” dream’s stomach churns with guilt at the thought of technoblade. he pretty much ditched him for six hours to hang out with george. 

george grimaces at the mention of technoblade. “if you say so.”

they walk out of the cafe, hand in hand, and wave goodbye to puffy. the walk back is quiet. the blazing heat seems to have died down in the time they stayed at the cafe. a low wind blows past them. 

“sundown.” george comments. 

dream looks at the sky. it’s mixed with warm tones of orange and yellow. he’s sure some red is thrown in there too. it reminds him a lot of techno’s eyes. 

“it’s pretty.” he relies. 

“like you.” george smirks. 

dream elbows him. 

“stop doing that.” he chuckles. george has no idea how fast his heart is pounding right now. 

they arrive at the front of the school. dream notices techno’s back is turned and he runs up to him. he wraps his arms around the taller, causing him to flinch. 

“you’re very jumpy today.” dream snickers.

“you’ve been sneaking up on me all day, of course i am.” techno looks down at the blonde and smiles. 

“can you take me home now? i’m tired.” dream yawns. 

“you can just stay at my place. tommy wants you to stay the night anyways.” techno adds.

“oh shit that’s right!” dream lets go of him. 

techno chuckles as dream drags him to the car. he wouldn’t miss spending the night at techno’s place for the world. 


	5. day 2.3: caramel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> techno finds out that it feels right having dream’s hand intertwined with his.

they step into the house again. tommy’s back on the couch listening to whatever the boy in green beside him is talking about. 

“welcome back big d!” tommy sits up, accidentally interrupting the other boy. 

“big d?” the brunette beside him asks. 

“oh, that’s right, you’ve never met dream have you?” tommy looks from dream and techno to the green clad boy. 

“no, i don’t think so.” the boy shakes his head. 

“well, tubbo, this is dream.” he gestures towards dream. “he’s techno’s boyfriend.” tommy whispers. 

“really?” tubbo asks. tommy nods with a smirk on his face. 

“he’s not my boyfriend tommy.” the pinkette rolls his eyes. dream chuckles. 

“well he might as well be.” tommy blows a raspberry at his older brother. “you’re even holding hands!” he points at dream’s left hand which is wrapped around techno’s wrist. 

“he’s holding my wrist, not my hand. if you’re going to lie, at least make it believable.” techno huffs. dream’s hand leaves its place on techno’s wrist and slowly falls to his hand. the taller male freezes as their hands intertwine. 

“whatever.” the blonde on the couch rolls his eyes. 

“be careful with him techno.” wilbur says with a smirk on his face as he makes his way down the stairs. “if he starts limping tomorrow morning, i’m telling phil.” he teases. 

“wil!” dream shouts, blush creeping up on his face. 

“i’ll make sure to tell george too. now _that_ will get a reaction out of him.” wilbur hums, walking to the living room. 

techno growls at the mention of george. 

“ohohoh, now that set something in you didn’t it?” wilbur crosses his legs. tommy snickers while tubbo watches on at the situation unfolding in front of him. 

“i don’t need this shit right now wilbur.” techno’s eyes narrow at the older. “first off, that british fuck showed up today unexpectedly. then, he just _has_ to ditch school and take dream with him.” 

“techno-” wilbur sets down his glasses on the coffee table. his joking tone dies in his throat. 

“no wilbur. i’m not doing this right now. i’m so fucking tired. all i wanted was for dream to have one night here without being completely uncomfortable, but no. you always have to go and fuck it up with your stupid sexual jokes. don’t push your ideals onto mine.” techno turns away, leaving his brothers, and dream, downstairs. 

“i really fucked up this time didn’t i?” wilbur chuckles sadly to himself. 

“it’s okay wil.” dream places a hand on the curly haired boy’s shoulder. “you didn’t mean it.”

“of course i didn’t, but tecno doesn’t know that.” wilbur sighs and leans back against the couch. “he’s right though. i’m just pushing my sad ideals of romance onto him.” 

**———————**

“what’s got you riled up kiddo?” philza asks, sitting down beside techno on his bed. 

“wilbur keeps making sexual jokes despite dream being uncomfortable about it. not only that, but he assumes i’m only interested in him for sexual interest.” techno groans, laying down on his bed. his hands cover his face. 

“that’s just how wilbur is, you should know that. i know this isn’t what you want to hear, and i’m not trying to excuse his actions either, but what if you’re making this all up?” phil suggests. 

techno sits up immediately. 

“what do you mean i’m making it all up?” the pink haired boy narrows his eyes. 

“well, dream seems to laugh every time wilbur makes a joke. you’re the only one who really seems to react to them. maybe you’re just being overprotective of him.” phil explains. “or maybe you’re just jealous that wilbur can also make dream smile and laugh.” the older smirks. 

“now way! i’d never be jealous of wilbur. if he wants dream, he can have him.” techno’s heart feels heavy as he speaks. 

“ah, that’s exactly what i was talking about. as much as you don’t want to admit it to yourself, you get jealous easily. you’re overprotective of dream because you want him to see you as more than how you see yourself, correct?” philza’s smirk changes to a soft smile. 

techno considers this. he thinks about the bomb philza just dropped on him. is that why he was so desperate to make dream happy? so that he would only see him instead of george or, hell, maybe even wilbur? it seems to be the exact answer that techno needs. he nods in response to philza’s question. 

“just as i thought. you’re doing a good job at making him happy techno. you’re able to work your way around his boundaries and you’re patient with him.” phil reassures the younger. 

“i, i guess so.” techno takes a deep breath before standing up. “thanks dad.”

“no problem son.

**———————**

techno walks down the stairs, the sound of laughter getting louder the closer he gets.

he notices dream is the main source of it. he smiles when he hears his iconic wheeze. 

“techno! you’re back!” dream gets up from the couch and runs over to the pinkette. the blonde wraps his arms around him. phil smiles as he moves past them. 

“alright, you boys up for baking?” phil asks. 

tommy and tubbo jump up from the couch.

“hell yeah!” tommy shouts, earning laughter from everyone else in the room. 

techno looks at dream, who’s beside him. their hands are intertwined once again. his heart aches at the sight. the realization hits him just as hard as phil’s talk did. standing here in his house, hand in hand with dream, laughing together with his family, he wants to keep this moment. it feels right. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick question, who do you guys think the endgame is? i already know who i want dream to end up with, but i’m just curious as to what you guys think


	6. day 2.4: caramel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> baking shenanigans and a small schlatt cameo.

“alright love birds, are we gonna bake or what?” tommy sticks his tongue out at the two older boys. instead of getting angered by this, techno just lets it happen. besides, being dream’s boyfriend doesn’t sound too bad anyways. 

“yeah tommy, give us a minute.” techno brushes off his younger brother. 

“wow, are you guys actually dating this time? holy shit!” tommy’s eyes widen. 

“he didn’t deflect the joke this time. guess they are.” wilbur shrugs. 

“i fuckin called it!” tommy shouts, causing philza to chuckle. 

“we’re not dating, tommy. i’ve just decided that it’s not worth my time deflecting your stupid jokes.” techno replies. dream wheezes at this. 

“you’re in no place to be laughing green bastard.” tommy fake pouts. wilbur and techno soon join dream in laughing. tubbo gives a quiet snort before helping philza take the cookie dough out of the freezer. 

philza sets down the three rolls of cookie dough on the table. “go wild.” he smiles. 

“i thought we were actually baking, not eating microwaveable cookies.” wilbur jokes. 

“i’m a single suburban father with three feral children, do you really think i had the time to go out and buy the ingredients to actually bake cookies?” phil jokingly retorts. 

“well, when you put it like that, not really.” wilbur says, rolling the cookie dough into a ball. 

“dream, if you want cookies that don’t look deformed you’re going to have to let go of my hand.” techno says, attempting to roll a piece of cookie dough with his free hand. 

“but my hand is cold!” dream leans his head on the taller’s shoulder. technoblade sighs. 

“it’s literally the start of summer and your hand is cold?” techno asks. 

“fine.” dream pouts and lets go of his hand. 

“thank you.” techno chuckles. 

“you can hold my hand dream.” wilbur smiles. dream jokingly rolls his eyes and grasps wilbur’s hand.

“wow wilbur, you’re really out here stealing people’s men huh?” tommy laughs. 

“hey, techno didn’t protest."

“he’s too annoyed to.” tommy glances over to his older brother. he’s trying his best not to ask for dream back. tommy snickers. 

“my balls look deformed.” tubbo says suddenly. the room goes silent before being filled with an abundance of laughter. “wh-hey that’s not what i meant!” tubbo says through his own laughter. 

“tubbo, please never say that again. my goodness.” tommy covers his eyes as he wheezes.

“context tubbo, context!” wilbur chuckles. 

“i’m so sorry!” tubbo covers his face with his hands. 

“it’s alright tubbo, it’s not that big of a deal.” philza continues to roll up the cookie dough. 

techno glances over at wilbur and dream. their hands are still intertwined. his heart clenches in his chest. of course, no one notices this. all except for wilbur. the curly haired brunette doesn’t say anything though. the brothers make eye contact from across the table. there’s no tension. techno knows wilbur doesn’t actually mean it. right? wilbur leans over to dream, whispering something in his ear. the blonde snickers and looks over at techno. the pinkette immediately looks away from them, giving the tray full of rolled up cookie dough to philza to be put in the oven. 

wilbur and dream continue talking to one another, occasionally glancing at the pink haired teen every now and then. techno’s anxiety rises every time he makes eye contact with the blonde. eventually, all the trays are filled with cookie dough and are put in the oven. tommy kicks his legs back and forth on the chair as he waits. dream returns back to his seat beside technoblade. 

“did you miss me?” he smirks, leaning his head on techno’s shoulder again.

“maybe.” techno mumbles, leaning his head gently on top of dream’s. dream giggles. “are your hands still cold?” he asks, brushing his fingers against the younger’s. dream nods immediately. techno lets out a quiet chuckle before taking dream’s hand in his, “you’re such a nerd.”

“dad! they’re holding hands under the table!” tommy shouts. wilbur elbows the boy, earning a quiet groan of pain from him.

“let them have this moment, tommy. it’s sweet.” he smiles. philza looks up from his spot at the table. he smiles when he notices the two leaning on each other, hands intertwined. the oven dings and he gets up to retrieve the cookies. 

“it’s hot, so don’t burn yourselves.” phil says, placing the trays down on the table. “i’m looking at you tommy.” he says sternly. the youngest groans and leans his chair back. tubbo laughs beside him.

“how many times have you burnt yourself for phil to say that?” wilbur asks the blue eyed boy. 

“shut up fish fucker.” tommy growls.

“fish fucker? how original.” wilbur rolls his eyes.

“boys.” philza warns.

“sorry dad.” they respond in unison. 

“what’s up with wilbur and getting into fights with you guys?” dream comments.

“they just can’t handle the fact that i’m superior, dream.” wilbur jokingly replies. 

the cookies eventually cool down and they’re finally able to eat them. It gets pretty late by the time they’re done, and philza leaves the house with tommy to take tubbo back home.

“it was nice meeting you dream!” the other green clad boy waves goodbye.

“you too tubbo!” the blonde waves back. 

the three older teens close the door once philza’s car is out of the driveway.

“so,” wilbur falls back onto the couch. “are you guys planning on going to quackity’s party this friday?” 

“yeah, i’m kind of obligated to since sapnap and they’re all going.” dream shrugs.

“techno?” he eyes his younger brother. 

“i guess i’ll be along for the ride too. just don’t expect me to drink or anything.” techno sighs.

“wouldn’t count on it.” wilbur smirks.

philza gets back home a bit afterwards. he goes upstairs and tucks tommy into bed before making his way downstairs. wilbur sits up.

“is schlatt back?” he asks. phil nods. “oh thank the gods.” he sighs, sinking back into the couch. 

“he’s doing a little better than the last time we saw him.” phil comments.

“really? that’s great!” wilbur gets ecstatic. “do you think that i can visit him later this week?” he asks.

“i don’t know about  _ that _ . he’s still recovering, and you’re still supposed to stay away from him.” he replies.

“what? i thought you said you’d lift the ban if he ever recovered.” wilbur deflates. 

“i did, but he’s not  _ fully  _ recovered.” he counters. “who knows if he’ll even change his ways after this.” he mumbles to himself.

“schlatt is going to improve, i know it. please just let me see him once.” he begs. 

“i’m not dealing with this right now wilbur. i’m tired and you three need to get to bed anyways.” phil turns around and flees upstairs.

wilbur sighs but goes to upstairs. dream and techno follow him. techno huffs as he closes the door behind them. dream sits on his bed, motioning for the pinkette to sit down next to him. techno takes the spot beside him. the blonde leans his head on his shoulder once again.

“what was that about? i haven’t heard anything about schlatt in months.” dream shifts his body closer to techno’s. 

“to get you up to speed, schlatt got alcohol poisoning a couple months back. his constant smoking didn’t help his condition either.” he explains, wrapping his hands over dream’s.

“oh.” the shorter simply replies.

“yeah. because of that, phil didn’t want wilbur hanging out with him anymore so he said that until schlatt was fully recovered and “normal”, he’d be able to talk to him again.” he continues.

“well shit. no wonder he hasn’t been at school. it’s weird to think that he was a star student too.” dream says with a yawn. the boy beside him just nods. 

“you need to go to bed, you’re already tired.” techno lays the shorter down on his bed. he pulls the thin covers over the blonde. dream grabs onto techno’s arm before he can leave.

“what about you? you need to go to bed too. stop staying up late doing stuff to keep you preoccupied.” he pulls the hem of techno’s shirt. 

“i hate that you know me so well.” techno sighs and lays down next to dream. the younger curls up beside him and closes his eyes. “goodnight nerd.” he smiles warmly at the smaller.

“goodnight techy.” dream mumbles, pressing up against him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wilbur lore? fuck yeah  
> wilbur endgame? jk jk...unless???? nah I'm just kidding


	7. day 3: caramel/cigarette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> techno didn’t think that lending dream his shirt would be that big of a deal

techno looks over at the sleeping blonde beside him. he whips his head around when he hears his door creak open. he gives wilbur a warning glare. wilbur notices the small boy and perks up. he smirks and shakes his head before gently closing the door. the green eyed boy eventually stirs awake.

“morning dream.” techno smiles.

“morning techy.” he yawns. 

he sits up and rests his head on techno’s shoulder, still tired.

“we have to get out of bed. phil is gonna yell at us.” techno comments. dream buries his face in the crook of techno’s neck.

“no. i’m still tired.” he mumbles.

techno chuckles and pulls the covers off of him. 

“come on. bad will kill me too if you’re not there on time.” he reminds. dream springs up.

“shit!” he rushes out of bed, techno not too far behind. 

“well look who decided to wake up.” tommy snickers. 

“finally.” philza sighs. “you boys have twenty minutes before school starts, so you better hurry.” 

dream sighs as he stands outside of technoblade’s bedroom. 

“uh, tech?” dream calls out to the older male.

“what’s up?” 

“i-uh, didn’t bring any clothes. so-” 

“are you implying that you need to borrow mine?” techno asks, opening the door with a smirk on his face. dream sheepishly nods. the pink haired boy goes back to his room and grabs a dark gray t-shirt. he hands it to him.

“thanks.” he sighs.

“don’t worry about it. you can keep it if you want.” he comments.

“wh-i’m not keeping your shirt.” he pulls the oversized shirt over his head.

“you were thinking about asking me if you could keep it, weren’t you?” 

the shirt is a little bigger on dream than he initially thought. it covers a little bit past his hips and the sleeves reach up to his elbows. he likes it though. it gives him a sense of comfort and security. just like techno does.

“maybe i was.” he mumbles. techno chuckles. the sound dies in his throat when he sees dream in the shirt. he clears his throat.

“keep it then,” he says. “you look cute in it anyways.”

dream can feel heat rise to his face. he doesn’t speak, too flustered and whipped to say anything.

“i-uh-thanks.” dream stammers. techno simply nods before taking dream’s hand and walking to his car. 

they soon arrive at the campus. techno offers the younger his hand. dream takes it, a smile makes its way to his face. 

“well, you two seem happy.” sapnap smirks as dream runs up to him. “what’d you do at his place last night?” he asks in a hushed voice. 

“we didn’t do anything sapnap, get your horny ass out of the gutter.” dream rolls his eyes and pushes the ravenette away. sapnap laughs it off. 

“seriously though, what happened? i’m assuming he made a move.” sapnap whispers to him. dream points to his shirt. it takes the younger a bit to realize what dream is referring to, but when he does, his eyes widen. “he gave you his shirt?” he gasps. dream nods again, light blush dusting his cheeks. 

“aw my little dreamy is all grown up!” bad coos, hugging the blonde from behind. dream stiffens at the sudden contact while sapnap wheezes away. 

“jesus christ bad, how long have you been standing there.” dream huffs. 

“long enough to hear that techno gave you his shirt.” the older pokes his cheek in a teasing manner. 

“really?” a low british voice cuts in. brown eyes meet emerald ones. dream’s breath hitches in his throat. 

“sure did! what’re you gonna do about it gogy?” wilbur teases. the shorter narrows his eyes at the guitarist. 

“wilbur, now isn’t the time.” techno sighs from behind his brother. 

“hush dude, i wanna see how this goes down.” sapnap whispers. the pinkette shakes his head and walks in between wilbur and george. 

“wilbur, stay out of this.” he ushers his older brother away. he turns back to look at george. “so what if i gave him my shirt?” he sighs. “it just means that i have more balls than you do.” he says as he passes by george. 

“you tell him techno!” tommy shouts, walking with the group. 

wilbur, techno, and dream slowly drift behind the group. the blonde pulls both of them down by the collar of their shirts. 

“that was unnecessary y’know.” he huffs exasperatedly. 

“come on dream, let us have our fun.” wilbur smirks down at the younger. dream rolls his eyes. 

“and you,” he looks directly into techno’s eyes. “as hot as it was watching you get angry at the guy who broke my heart 5 years ago, it was completely unnecessary. he’s still my friend techno.” he lets go off both their shirts and begins to walk away before turning around to narrow his eyes at the two. “behave.” he growls. 

his figure gets further and further away from the brothers, disappearing in the hallway amongst the sea of other students. 

“that was...unexpectedly hot.” wilbur comments. 

“you can say that again.” techno mumbles. 


	8. day 3.2: cigarette/caramel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> clingy dream and therapist bbh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there is a weird cut in this chapter since i had no idea what i wanted to write between that part so just keep that in mind.

dream tries his damn hardest to find george. he scans the crowd of people and eventually finds a tuft of brown hair. he gently taps george’s shoulder when he reaches them. the brunette turns around to look at him. 

“what’s wrong dream?”

“i’m so sorry for what happened this morning. i couldn’t control those two, and it was your first impression of wilbur too. i _promise_ he isn’t like that all the time. i mean, sure, he can be a dick sometimes but-” dream rambles. george cups his face. the blonde can feel his face go red at the action. 

“dream it’s okay. what happened this morning won’t drive me away from you. you need to stop blaming yourself for everything.” george smiles at him to give the younger reassurance. 

“i-” the bell rang, interrupting dream before he could make a statement to counter the british boy’s. george kisses his forehead and takes his hand in his. 

“let’s go. don’t want to be late do we?” he smirks. there’s something that dream notices in george’s eyes. a glimmer of the past, if you will. he’s sure that spark from 5 years ago has been lit up again. a fragment of hope makes its way back to him. 

class goes by without much of a blink. just a bunch of sentimental shit students and staff spew two days before summer break. dream is honestly tired of the sappy shit.

his eyelids feel heavy as the teacher talks about how far the class has come from the first day of the year. he unconsciously leans his head on george’s shoulder. he catches a glimpse of a smile on the older boy’s face as he rests his head on top of him. well, maybe dream isn’t _that_ tired of the sappy shit. 

the first four periods go by as slow as ever. time ticks down as everyone anticipates the last day before their escape. the bell rings, indicating that lunch is starting. george helps dream stand up and holds his hand as they walk to bad and sapnap. 

“did that muffinhead fall asleep in class again?” bad asks, a playful smile tugging at his lips. dream sleepily nods. bad chuckles and ruffles his blonde hair before leading the group to the cafeteria. 

bad spots wilbur in the cafeteria, due to his incredible height. they make eye contact as wilbur waves to them. the trio follows bad to their table. 

“so, how was class.” bad asks, pretending not to be aware of the tension between techno and george as soon as he sat down. 

“it was alright.” wilbur shrugs, tapping his fingers on the table. 

“boring.” tommy dramatically yawns, drawing out the vowels as much as he can. 

sapnap and dream eventually join in on the conversation. techno stays silent but still stares daggers at the brunette sitting across from him. george gives him a smirk before lifting up dream’s intertwined hand, and gently kisses it. dream freezes mid-sentence. his face goes incredibly red as he tries to hide it by burying his face in george’s chest. 

“woah, george with balls.” sapnap mumbles. tommy lets out a loud wheeze. 

“language!” bad shouts at the ravenette causing wilbur to chuckle. 

“oh i’m liking where this is going.” sapnap comments with a smirk, noticing techno glaring at the other male. 

“me too big man.” tommy adds. 

“what about you bad? are you liking where this is going?” wilbur asks nonchalantly. 

“though i am worried about george’s safety at the moment, yes. yes i am.” bad smirks. 

“i have a feeling we’re gonna get along splendidly.” wilbur grins. 

techno growls at the brunette. the british male simply sits there, his hand locked with dream’s and a shit eating grin spread across his face. 

“what’s wrong techno? it’s rude to stare y’know.” george says. he slinks his arm around dream’s torso, embracing him. the blonde had fallen asleep, head in his chest, a while ago. techno abruptly stands up from the table and leaves. bad notices the pink haired boy walking towards the bathroom and excuses himself to chase after him. 

“hey! what’re you doing over here?” bad asks, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom. techno splashes some water on his face and dries it with a paper towel before turning to face the other male. 

“nothing.” he responds in his monotonous voice. bad rolls his eyes at the younger. 

“i’m not taking that kind of attitude from you techno. i thought you were going to hang out with dream at the party tomorrow night! don’t you want that too?” bad tries his best to encourage the red eyed boy in front of him. his efforts are useless as techno only sighs and exits the bathroom. bad desperately drags himself after the other. 

when he leaves the bathroom, he finds that the pink haired boy has disappeared. he walks up to the table and taps wilbur’s shoulder. 

“what’s up bad?” wilbur says as he turns around.

“hypothetically speaking, if techno were to run off while on campus, where would he go?” bad replies as he taps his fingers together. the brunette chuckles as he looks around the cafeteria. he notices one of the glass doors to the left of the building and points to it. 

“out there. there’s a bench near the courtyard, but far enough from the main part of it. he should be there. if not, check the lawn.” wilbur explains.

“okay, thanks.” 

wilbur salutes to the older jokingly. bad laughs to himself as he exits the cafeteria. he walks to the courtyard and notices the bench that wilbur was talking about. lo and behold, techno was sitting there just as wilbur had said. his posture was relaxed, but you could tell in his eyes that he was there to avoid something. bad cautiously approaches him. 

“you can’t keep running. eventually it’ll catch up to you and the results won’t be pretty.” bad crosses his arms. as techno sighs and puts one of his legs over the other. 

“i know bad. that’s why i’m not running, i’m stalling.” techno refuses to make eye contact with the other. bad scoffs at him. 

“well you’re gonna have to slow down eventually. dream needs to catch up. he might be incredibly fast academically and battle wise, but he needs a couple of seconds when it comes to human emotions.” bad elaborates. “can i sit down? it’s kind of awkward if i’m just standing here-”

“sure.” techno awkwardly shuffles over. 

“thank you.” bad coughs. “anyways, like i was saying, dream needs a minute. and, from what i’m seeing, you might need a minute too. you can’t just hide them and bury them with you on the day you die! there comes a point where you have to choose between giving yourself an answer or flying blind searching for one.” 

techno stays silent. 

“the choice is yours techno, and don’t let george stop you. he’s not that scary anyways.” bad gives him a smile. it comforts techno just a bit. 

“i can see why.” he chuckles lightly. “thanks bad.” 

bad hums in response. the older teen checks his phone. 

“we should probably go back.” he tells the other. techno nods and stands up. 

“lead the way.” 

techno trails behind the taller male, following him back to the cafeteria. 

“we’re back!” bad says as he sits down, techno not too far behind. dream stirs awake. “oh, sorry dream! go back to sleep you muffinhead!” he pokes the blonde’s cheek. 

“don’t tell me what to do dad.” dream grumbles, burying his face further in george’s chest causing the brunette to chuckle. 

techno blatantly ignores them. he sits down closer to wilbur and tommy, despite how much of a pain in the ass they can be. 

“ah, welcome back dear brother.” wilbur smiles as he sits across from him. 

“welcome back big man!” tommy shouts. 

“say, where’s tubbo?” wilbur asks the blonde beside him. 

“schlatt got real fucked up today, so he had to stay home and help.” tommy shrugs. 

“oh.” wilbur deflates at the mention of schlatt’s condition getting worse. he turns to the middle child. “hey techno, do you grant that i could visit him without phil knowing?” 

“i’m not sure if i’m being totally honest.” techno replies, aimlessly twirling his long pink hair with his index finger. “there’s a low chance of getting caught, but a high chance of tommy ratting you out.” he advices. 

“true.” wilbur mumbles. he looks over at tommy. the younger teen puts his hands up. 

“hey hey don’t look at me big man! i won’t say a word if you let me stay with tubbo for a while.” tommy rambles in hopes of saving himself from a potential lecture from wilbur. 

“fine.” wilbur groans.

“you’re so clingy.” techno mutters, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. tommy sputters at this. 

“says you!” he shouts at the pinkette. “you and dream were literally cuddling this morning! and i didn’t even _need_ wil to tell me that.” 

“gee, talk about snitching.” wilbur rolls his eyes at his younger brother. 

——————

the bell rings as students rush out of the classroom of their final period. one more day. dream grasps george’s arm in hopes of not getting lost amongst the spill of teenagers that are slowly filling up the hallways. george laughs at the younger boy and walks with him to find bad and sapnap.

they find the two already outside of the school. techno scans the area to find dream. he sees the blonde wearing his huge gray t-shirt, and walks up to him. he sneakily slips his hand in dream’s and takes him away from the group. 

“what was that for?” dream wheezes at him. 

“i wasn’t going to ask them if i could borrow you.” 

“you could’ve. bad isn’t that scary.”

“it’s not bad, it’s george. i didn’t want to deal with his dumbass just to take you home.” techno groans and as leads dream to his car.

the green eyed boy sits in the front seat. 

“hey big d!” tommy greets as he sits in the car. 

“hello tommy.” dream chuckles. 

“we’re going to visit schlatt, if you don’t mind.” techno says as he steps on the gas pedal. dream smiles at the older and turns to face the window. 

“any moment with you is fine by me.” dream mumbles. 

techno loves dream so much that he doesn’t have the heart to tell him that he heard what he said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not updating in month. i got really burnt out and honestly i think i’m still kind of burnt out. i’m slowly getting out of it though, i think.


	9. day 3.3: caramel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wilbur finally gets to see schlatt and realizes two things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is very technoblade/sbi centric and kind of lacks any fluffy moments.

techno parks his car on the driveway of schlatt and tubbo’s house. as soon as the car pulls to a stop, tommy swings the door open and rushes to the front door. wilbur chuckles to himself and opens his car door and closes it. he sees dream’s eyes closed in the window of the car door. wilbur slowly opens the door and unbuckles the blonde’s seat belt. dream starts to stir awake as wilbur picks him up. 

the brunette gently shuts the door and carries dream as he curls up against him. tubbo and tommy have left the front door wide open for wilbur to walk though. techno walks in afterwards and closes the door behind them. dream’s emerald eyes open. wilbur sets him down when he notices that dream is conscious. 

“we’re here.” wilbur awkwardly coughs. dream simply smiles at him and nods. 

“where’s schlatt anyways?” techno asks aimlessly. 

“his room is upstairs.” wilbur replies as he leads the other two upstairs. when they reach schlatt’s room, they find tommy and tubbo sitting beside his bed. schlatt’s eyes widen when he notices the taller brunette. 

“wilbur?” he rasps out. 

“that’s me.” he smiles. he walks by the bed and gently hugs him.

“god how long has it been since i’ve seen you?” schlatt asks, tears sitting on the corners of his eyes. 

“long enough.” wilbur lets go of the shorter. “tubbo said you weren’t feeling too well. anything else we need to know?” 

“nah i’m fine. i just gained asthma and minor heart problems, which admittedly doesn’t look too good on me but-”

“asthma?” wilbur questions, tilting his head to the side. 

“yeah. i kind of fucked up my lungs because of my constant smoking.” schlatt chuckles. it’s a dry and humorless sound. it sounds like regret. 

“and the heart problems?” wilbur crosses his arms. his temper is slowly starting to rise. how much more was schlatt hiding from him? 

tommy mutters a quick “uh oh” to tubbo once he senses the tension in the room growing thicker. 

“alcohol.” he shrugs.

“how-no,  _ why  _ are you so calm about this?” wilbur shouts at him. “you’re basically dying schlatt!”

“it’s fine wilbur. i’m not dying yet. as long as i put off the smoking and drinking i’ll be okay. i physically can’t smoke thanks to my shit lungs and my short heart palpitations scared me enough to stop drinking.” schlatt attempts to put a smile on his face. wilbur sighs, clearly aggravated. “don’t worry so much about me wil. you act like i can’t take care of myself or something.”

“because you can’t! if you knew how to take care of yourself you wouldn’t be bedridden all the time. you would be out and about with us. do you know that summer break is starting soon and all you’re gonna do is sit in bed all summer trying to recover from almost falling over the edge? i don’t want to spend my whole summer coming over to see you sickly and struggling to breathe.” wilbur paces back and forth. the floorboards in schlatt’s room creak under the tension of wilbur’s pacing. “phil was right.” he mutters to himself, rubbing his temples. it takes a moment for schlatt to register wilbur’s words, but when he does it’s too late. the guitarist is already out of his room. “call me when you’ve changed your ways. come on you three, we’re going back home. if phil asks where we were, lie. you hear me?” wilbur narrows his eyes at his brothers. 

“gotcha big man.” tommy nods. “sorry tubbo, i wish i could’ve stayed longer.”

“it’s alright tommy. i’ll be back for the last day tomorrow.” tubbo grins at the blue eyed boy. 

“if you stay so big t.” tommy sighs and waves goodbye to the other. 

they exit the house and get into the car. wilbur sighs in the back seat, exhausted from lecturing schlatt. he slowly closes his eyes and begins to drift off. tommy sits upright in the back seat with his head resting on the palm of his hand. 

“i’ve never seen wilbur act like that before.” dream comments with a hint of fear in his voice as he fiddles with his hands. 

“yeah, he’s normally calm about those kinds of things.” techno says, resisting the urge to hold dream’s hand. 

“eyes on the road blade.” tommy says from the back seat, careful not to wake up wilbur. techno rolls his eyes as dream lets out a quiet wheeze beside him. 

“i hate driving with tommy in the car.” techno mumbles. 

“i heard that shit techno! wait until i tell phil.” tommy crosses his arms. “dream is a way better brother than you.” an idea suddenly crosses tommy’s mind. a mischievous grin quickly spreads to his lips. “hey techno, if you marry dream, that’ll make him my brother-in-law right?” tommy asks oh so innocently. 

dream snickers. techno grips the steering wheel and sighs in exasperation. 

“yes it would tommy.” he grits his teeth. 

“i hate to break it to you, but i don’t think we’re getting married anytime soon toms.” dream smiles. tommy groans dramatically. 

“why not?” he whines. the blonde in front of him shrugs. 

“techno? why aren’t we getting married anytime soon?” dream asks, joining in on tommy’s antics. a shade of red makes its way onto techno’s cheeks. tommy can see it from the side of his face and laughs. dream refrains from laughing as well. 

“because, dream, i don’t think i want you to be related to these people. they’re embarrassing to be around.” techno replies. 

“rude.” tommy scoffs, causing dream to chuckle. a small smile forms on techno’s face. 

the ride to dream’s house wasn’t as bad as techno thought it would be. sure, tommy’s purposely off key singing was annoying, but when a certain song or two came on that he genuinely liked he would try his best to sing it, and he was quite good at it. 

“he probably got it from wilbur.” dream comments, after tommy finished singing “re-do” by modern baseball. 

“you know i did.” tommy says, pride evident in his voice. 

“well, we’re here dream.” techno pulls the car to a stop by the curb. the older blonde steps out of the car and waves goodbye to techno and tommy before closing the car door. techno makes sure dream steps inside his house before driving away. 

“you care about him a lot don’t you big man?” tommy asks. techno freezes when he realizes that it was, in fact, a genuine question. 

“of course i do tommy.” he coughs. 

“well if you like him so much just ask him out! he’s obviously into you!” tommy kicks the seat in front of him now that no one is sitting in it. 

“he’s also into george, tommy.” he replies coldly. tommy’s eyes widen in realization for a second. 

“oh. i didn’t know it was genuine.”

“it’s fine. i just wish it were as easy as you say it is, but i don’t want to overwhelm him with feelings.” techno elaborates. the light ahead of them turns green, and techno makes a right. 

“yeah, i can understand that.” tommy turns to face the window. “y’know, as much as i joke about you two getting married and teasing you for liking him, i really wish you two the best.” 

“that’s-well that's surprising.” 

“coming from me? i know.” tommy rolls his eyes playfully. techno smiles. it’s a genuine smile. tommy can see it in the rear view mirror and smiles as well, that’s all the answers he needs for now. 

they arrive back home a little while later. it’s basically sun down when they get back. when the car pulls to a stop, tommy pokes wilbur until his eyes open. 

“we’re back big man.” tommy explains before wilbur can yell at him. the brunette calms down and sighs. he unbuckles himself and steps out of the car, tommy following behind him. techno locks the doors to the car when his brothers get out and walks behind them to the front door. 

wilbur stops dead in his tracks when he sees phil sitting on the couch in front of them, eyes narrowed and arms crossed. 

“uh oh.” he mutters. 

“what’s up wil-uh oh.” tommy cuts himself off when he notices the older man on the couch as well. 

“here we go.” techno sighs. 

“well, get in the house first.” phil says dryly. 

the three walk inside one at a time. techno huffs as he closes the door behind him. 

“where were you three? none of you told me your whereabouts! dream didn’t even say anything to me either, so that means you weren’t with him.” phil shouts at them. 

“dad, don’t bring dream into this.” techno winces. 

“sorry,” philza sighs. “but you know better than to run off without telling me where you are. i don’t care where you go or for how long you’re out, as long as i know where you are.” 

“sorry dad.” tommy apologizes as he twists the bottom of his shirt. 

“you’re lucky i’m too old for this shit. and you three are old enough to know the rules of going places.” phil huffs. “you’re free to go now. if it happens again, i’m giving you three a curfew.” 

the group nods and rushes off to their rooms. techno flops down on his bed and sighs. he groans when he hears a knock on his bedroom door. 

“which one of you is it?” he asks. he makes sure his irritation is clear in his tone. 

“it’s wilbur.” a british voice replies on the other side. techno pauses for a moment before sitting up on his bed. 

“come in.”

the curly haired boy walks into his room and closes the door. techno’s posture softens when he notices the anxiousness in wilbur’s stance. 

“what’s wrong?” 

“i-its about dream.” 

“oh.” techno stiffens. “you can uh-sit down on my chair if you want.”

wilbur just nods and sits down in techno’s desk chair. 

“so do you have a problem with dream or?” the pinkette tilts his head to the side. 

“no no no no, he’s great! it’s just,there’s a tiny issue.” wilbur pushes his hair back to distract himself. 

“an issue?” techno’s anxiety skyrockets. 

“i-well, i think i might like dream.” wilbur blurts out. techno freezes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so, i got way too excited and already wrote and finished the next chapter and i’m debating if i should do a double update.


	10. day 3.4: wilbur

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a bit shorter cause i kind of ran out of fuel half way through but just take it.

“well, do you or not?” techno asks. “sorry, that came out a bit aggressively.” he apologizes when he realizes the tone of his voice

“it’s alright.” wilbur replies, lifting his head up to look at him. a pair of brown eyes meet red ones. he turns away from him and sighs. “to answer your question, i’m not sure. well, actually i am sure. i think i  _ did _ at one point.” wilbur corrects. “it was a long time ago, really, uh-about the time you brought him home the fourth time. i’d gotten used to him and was comfortable with him.” he elaborates.

it seems to answer techno’s question, but wilbur isn’t done. he looks back at his brother, eyes glossed with old memories he wished to keep forgotten. techno silently allows him to go on. 

“then i remembered you.” he smiles weakly. “i remembered how much you seemed to like him and how he acted around you, so i stopped. i backtracked and i gave up because i knew there was no way in hell i was competing with you.” he chuckles sadly. 

“wilbur why didn’t you say anything?” techno’s voice quivers. 

“because, even if i decided not to give up, i doubt it would’ve been mutual. someone had to get their heart broken in the process and i didn’t want it to be you.” he sighs. 

“so you made yourself the ultimate sacrifice?” techno asks. he’s biting back the anger he feels. wilbur nods slowly. 

“it doesn’t hurt that much anymore. sure, there are times where i regret not saying anything sooner, but then i look at what you have with him and think yeah, i’m happy with the decision i’ve made.” he shrugs. 

“i hate you so much wil.” techno sighs, rubbing his temples. 

there’s a comfortable silence that passes between them, almost like an intermission before the next terrible conversation topic comes up. 

“do you think you’ll ever find someone to love again?” the question is hopeful, but wilbur already knows the answer. 

“honestly, no. i don’t think so. i can’t keep a relationship for very long, and maybe it’s because i haven't really figured myself out yet. until i do, i don’t think i’m ready for another go at love.” he replies with a huff. 

“goddammit wilbur. why do you do this to yourself?” the pinkette groans. wilbur chuckles dryly. 

“well, there’s something about you and dream. you know each other like the back of your hands. it’s beautiful in a way, how much you compliment each other. it’s fitting.” 

“what do you mean by that?”

wilbur gets up from the bed and walks to the door. 

“it was  _ always _ meant to be.” he smiles before closing the door to techno’s bedroom. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how’s it feel having all your dreams crushed :)
> 
> i’m sorry, i’ll make a dreamnobur fic one day for the person with a dreamnobur agenda I PROMISE.


End file.
